Maybe it is because of my yearning for Spring, but I am thinking about seeds today, mostly the kind we plant on purpose in gardens so that later on we can eat fresh vegetables. I haven't planted seeds in gardens now for several years, for various reasons.  But there were times when we had huge gardens full of all kinds of vegetables and I really enjoyed it, hard work and all.   Nothing like fresh cantaloupe, or fresh peas and corn.  So I continue to associate seed planting with Spring.  The fragrance of fresh plowed earth, the warmth of sun, the sound of water being poured out, the waiting for the sprout, all are things I miss. But this brings me to think about other seeds and soil.

Seeds of another kind can be planted in the soil of our hearts as well.    These seeds come in seed packets called WORDS.  They can come from what others say, they come from what we read, they come from what our own heart rehearses,  they can come from the father of lies, and the most precious seeds of all come from the great Sower of life.  

Except for the Word of God, seeds can be good or bad.  That is why we learn to nurture good seeds and weed out the bad ones.  One thing is for certain though:  if a seed is planted it will grow as it is watered.  So when we water good seeds, good things come from it, and when we water bad seeds, bad things come of that. How do we water the seed?  by thinking about it, rehearsing it over and over, or  finding others to agree with us in our conversations.  Once again, this can work for us or against us, depending on what kinds of seeds we are receiving and believing.

Then there are the seeds we sow into the lives of others through our words and intentions of the heart.  I believe we need to be very careful about this kind of seed sowing.  Seeds may not look like much, but they will reproduce after their own kind.  We can't control what others do with the seed of our words, but we can control what seeds we plant.   We live a life style of sowing good seeds that are intended to produce life and we learn to water those seeds in prayer, in faith, with patience and love.

On the other hand, it is interesting to me how readily bad seed are received and how quickly they produce weeds.  We have to nurture good seeds, but bad seeds seem to have a life of their own.  How easy it is to be influenced by the nature of bad seeds.  Why do we so easily entertain bad seeds and have to fight for nurturing good ones?  Perhaps we need to spend more time taking care of the garden of our hearts.  Or maybe we need to repent from our affinities that open us up to easily receive an evil report.  Or perhaps we are just too natural minded instead of being spiritual minded.  Is our tendency to relate from the soul realm rather than the mind of Christ realm?  If so. then that could be part of why weed seeds are easily received.  Whatever the case may be, we need to let the Lord work in us so that we are not such an easy target for receiving and believing lies, deceitful thoughts, fear thoughts, imaginations of worse case scenarios, seeds of discord, rebellion or worldly wisdom. Like Dandelion seeds, these things are blowing in the wind in great abundance, so we are learning not to entertain these things.  Rather, as believers, we are moving with intention to receive good seed sown in good ground, and to renounce bad seeds and root up wrong thinking in our hearts that they have caused.  

One last observation:  those of us who believe Spring is coming are gathering the good seeds into our hearts with abundance so we can see a fruitful harvest later on.